Guilty Until Proven Innocent
by dat-patriot
Summary: .AU. Kakashi is a city police officer in the city-district of Konoha; where drug-gangs and violence lie just beneath the surface of this seemingly peaceful city. It's up to Kakashi to help bring in the baddies… So why's Iruka a target? .rated T for now.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

Panting heavily, he flattened his body against the aged brick wall behind him, hoping the shadows of the alleyway would conceal his presence while he caught his breath. The man stood there for a long while, trying to collect his thoughts and consider his situation; it wasn't good. His heart skipped a beat as he heard the rapid pounding of footsteps enclosing. He couldn't move, not now; he was surrounded, they'd catch him soon enough.

"Did you see where he went?" He heard a voice say from the mouth of the long alleyway.

"We tailed him going up 5th," another lower voice replied. "After that we lost sight. He could be down to about 8th by now, if he ran fast."

The first man sighed, "Well, let me call in the chief…" There was a pause before the sounds of a cellular phone made its way to the hidden man's ears.

'_Shit_,' He thought, still remaining perfectly still except for his still-heaving chest. '_They'll catch me at this rate, and I didn't even do anything! Well, I guess I shouldn't have run… That won't help my case at all. Shit._' The man continued to internally berate himself as the two policemen who had been previously pursuing him made their call.

"…Alright, got it. Yes, sir. We'll report back by the half hour," the first officer hung up the phone with a sharp snap. "We gotta keep up the search for another hour," the second man groaned slightly, "and if we can't find him by then, we gotta continue the search tomorrow."

"Great. Just how I love to spend my weekend," the sound of rubber-soled shoes hitting concrete started up again as the two moved away from where their target was hiding. "Chasing down crazy, homicidal school-teachers…"

The footfalls of the district policemen grew further away and into nothingness, muffled by their distance and the sounds of traffic. From his hiding place in the alleyway, Iruka breathed a sigh of relief; they didn't catch him. Yet.

=x=x=x=

Hey, shadow-purple here!

Well, this is my first (published) fic, so don't throw tomatoes, please! D:

Uhm. Yeah, I decided to try my hand at an AU fic... *cough* yeah, let's see how this blows over! :D

Please review! I'd like to see your opinions on whether or not I should continue with this!

Thank you, muchly~ :3


	2. The Man for the Job

Okay, guys. I got fed up! So, I'm uploading these chapters, and they'll get a super editing job later if [read: when] necessary!  
THERE WE GO, YO!

_ Please, enjoy~

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**Chapter 1: The Man for the Job**

"So, how are we on the 'Homicidal School-Teacher' Situation?" The Konoha district police station was fairly busy that day, bustling with officers receiving orders, going on break, and the phones ringing with calls in. Among the organized chaos stood three of the best in the force-all having at least a decade of experience, and all brilliant at their jobs-grouped in the corner of the office, surrounding the coffee machine:

Genma Shiranui, Asuma Sarutobi, and Kakashi Hatake; all famous in their work for having collectively rounded up almost one thousand of the regions criminals, crooks, and baddies. The three were known throughout the force for their prowess, investigative ability and the fastest record for nabbing a single crook at a time. They were all overbearingly impressive.

Now, these three prodigies stood amiably by the coffee machine, sipping the dark, bitter liquid and indulging in "casual" conversation.

"Not far," Asuma answered Genma's previous question as he threw out a used coffee filter from the frequently used appliance.

Genma snorted, "He's a second grade teacher, how hard could he be to catch?"

"Apparently he's avoided detection for almost four hours," at Asuma's comment both his counterparts raised an eyebrow.

Kakashi hmm'd.

Genma whistled, "That teacher must be pretty good to escape detection for that long, huh?" The sandy-haired man lightly jabbed Kakashi in the chest with an elbow, "Maybe they'll hafta bring in the big guns."

Kakashi groaned softly, "Damn, I hope not…" He sipped some now chilled coffee from his orange Icha Icha Paradaisu mug and sighed, "Last thing I want to do is go on a 'Teacher Hunt'."

"Ha ha, hey, maybe if you're lucky you'll catch him in the first hour of search time!" Genma laughed as he waited for the next pot of coffee to brew.

"Don't underestimate me," Kakashi glared, pointing an accusing finger at the laughing man. "I'll nab him in thirty minutes."

"Oh, _ho_! That sounds like a challenge, old man!" Genma sneered around his toothpick. Asuma sighed from his spot at the coffee machine; really, those two always seemed to go on about something.

"DID SOMEBODY SAY 'CHALLENGE'!"

"Oh great, you've summoned the beast…" Kakashi's words barely left his lips before their most... _esteemed_ colleague, Gai Maito, sprang-literally, sprang- into the vicinity with a hand on his hip and the other clenched in a determined fist.

"Ah, ha! Greetings, my Eternal Rival! How fortunate it is for us to meet in such a place!" The bowl-cut sporting man's voice boomed over the gurgling of the coffeemaker, and effectively ended the previous conversation.

"Yeah, Gai, the coffee machine is quite an obscure location for us to meet up," Kakashi casually poured himself a fresh cup from the new pot and sipped languidly.

"Ah, you still remain quite Cool and Hip, dear Rival!" Gai's teeth sparkled in the pale, florescent light of the police station. It was still a mystery to the entire force as to how he managed to do that. "But I will catch up to you, One Day!" As he spoke, he held out a thumbs-up to the ceiling, as if it would accentuate his point.

It kinda worked.

"Alright, you do that, Gai," Kakashi said as he began to saunter out of the kitchenette and away from the remaining three in the room.

"Don't forget! You owe me lunch if you lose!" Genma called after him-referring to their earlier bet , the terms obviously set by Genma-only to receive a slight wave of the hand in acknowledgement before the silver-haired man set off for his small cubicle to fill out some more paperwork.

_Late_ paperwork, that is.

His journey was interrupted however, when the chief's secretary, Shizune, strode up to him, her face looking urgent, "Kakashi-san! The chief would like to see you in her office."

Kakashi sighed, _'what could the old bag want this time?'_

"She's not an 'old bag,' Kakashi-san. Now, please come with me," Shizune turned briskly and walked off to towards the far end of the cubicle filled office space to where a large glass-walled office sat in the front corner.

'_Shit, did I say that out loud? Whoops._'

The officer followed, still sipping at his coffee, as he was led past an impressive oak door and into his chief's office.

"Hatake," A disembodied voice sounded from somewhere behind a mounding stack of papers on a large desk. "What do you know about the School Murder case from earlier today?"

"Well, Stack-of-Papers-san," Kakashi began, hearing an angry grunt from the desk in response. "I know that there's a teacher on the run from a murder committed in a grade-school classroom." At this he paused, looking pensive, before continuing, "I never remembered Parent-Teacher Conferences being quite so extreme…"

"Har har, aren't you hilarious?" The person to whom the voice belonged stood up from her hidden location behind the towers of papers on her desk, sarcasm dripping from her voice. She was fairly tall, thin, with long blond hair held in two loose pony-tails trailing behind her head.

Oh, and she also had the biggest pair of knockers this side of town.

"As you may or may not know," she continued, walked around from behind her desk to stand in front of her subordinate. "We have lost all sight of him about an hour ago; that makes almost four and a half hours of evasion..."

Uh oh, Kakashi knew where this was going…

"…And I want _you_," she held out a manila folder, "to track him down. Put those skills of yours to use instead of slacking off."

Kakashi sighed, taking his last swig of coffee before taking the folder in his free hand and turning to leave, drawling, "Anything for you, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade grunted, knowing full well that Kakashi was going to be a pain when given this assignment; he was usually asked to bring in drug lords and Yakuza leaders, not school teachers; but there was something about this case that didn't sit right with the buxom chief. "Oi, Hatake," she called, just as her subordinate reached the door.

He turned slowly, waiting almost impatiently for her to continue, "Hm?"

"I want a full report the moment you get him in custody," she ordered, her voice sharp yet full of knowing exasperation towards the younger man. "And that means _on time_."

Kakashi sighed before turning and seeing himself out, "You demand so much of me, chief…" Tsunade's satirical chuckling could be heard going on softly before the door finally shut with a resounding click.

'_Alright_,' Kakashi thought, making his way to his small cubicle-desk, he sat down in the cushioned swivel chair and propped up his feet. He made to take another gulp of coffee before he realized he'd polished it off only minutes ago. '_Damn… Ah well…_' He opened the folder and quickly began to scan the pages, reading up on the situation before going after his target, '_This should be a breeze._'

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AN: So there you have it! Chapter one! Yaaaaaaa- *SHOT* So, yeah. Drop me a review~? Plz? ^^;;


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